Andy's 2013 clay court season

RG though has to provide more opportunities for Andy than, let's say, either Madrid or Rome. The 5 sets format will allow Andy to settle down unlike Madrid or Rome where the format doesn't help as much. Sometimes it's over even before you know it.

"If you look at my results at Wimbledon, first week I was beating guys I don’t know how. Dick Stockton and Paolo Cane in five sets. Richey Reneburg and Peter Lundgren in four. All those guys should have beaten me and they didn’t somehow. It was just shocking how I played, really irritating.

“It requires patience on everybody’s part. It requires patience from Andy, it requires patience from Dani and I, it requires patience from you guys in the media and Andy’s fans as well.

That was so good to read, thanks Linda. Love the bit about us all needing to be patient. Must admit I had to take a few days off from the speculation and opinion after Andy's match with Stan (way too many posts deciding Andy must have been ill!) Also get a bit fed up with the media bashing that goes on, when so many articles, like this one, seem very fair.

“We had fun today,” [Lendl] said. “I try to make practices fun all the time, whether the joke is on Dani [Vallverdu, the assistant coach] or Andy or me, I don’t care as long as we can have a chuckle and then we go".

Not sure if this (from Andy's facebook) was posted:

Izzle lost a team challenge, has to carry everyone's bag back to the locker room, he's got a slight sweat on

Got home confidently expecting to be able to watch Barcelona only to find it's pouring with rain and forecast to continue raining till Monday. So Andy is well out of it!

Unfortunately we tend to assume that places like Barcelona will have good weather all the time. If it rains that much then goodness knows when the tournament will get finished. As it is some players will have to play two matches tomorrow, if play is possible. Meanwhile I think Andy said he was travelling to London tomorrow.

Actually, never mind the possible appointment with Liz, Andy and his team had all planned to be in MC until now, and Lendl wouldn't have wanted to move - he probably had bookings at the local golf course! More seriously, a trip home now is Andy's chance to catch up with family and friends properly, because when he's back after the French, the hype and pressure will be building, so he'll not be in a position to be quite as sociable.

I also imagine he's got long-standing plans to catch up with family and friends, which he wouldn't want to cancel. It's important for Andy's career that he manages to maintain some balance in his personal life. Going by Jamie's Facebook, he was heading to London, and Judy's been spotted in Wimbledon, so they are probably looking forward to a few days together. Worth far more to him than entering Barcelona.

Ferrer lost in his first match there - I bet his fans aren't having a panic about it. I know he's possibly injured or plain tired, but also it's just one of those things. One tournament is not a season.

I've no idea if Andy can ever seriously challenge for one of the bigger clay court titles, but I do believe that he can become better than he's been so far, and I look forward to that happening. That said, I don't want him to do it at all costs.

I knew from what Andy said that the original plan was to stay in MC until Friday, when he would fly to London for a short break. I'm sure there must be lots of things he wants to catch up on as well as having a short break. I don't entirely buy the idea of a Buck House visit just now since he'll have much more time around Wimbledon, and I'm sure HM must have been made aware of that. A number of investitures are carried out by Prince Charles and Princess Anne anyway.

Barcelona looks set to be a bit of a disaster. According to the local forecast today will be cloudy with rain in the evening. Heavy rain all day Saturday. Sunday will be partly cloudy - and, in case they don't manage to squeeze all the matches in, rain is forecast for Monday as well.